Spring Training Update: Pitching Prospects Rule Intrasquad Game

The Giants held their annual spring training intrasquad game yesterday.  Covechatter watched it on his iPad and has a full report on his site linked to the left.  It was actually more of a showcase all-star game for the Giants minor league prospects, but was so much fun they extended it from a planned 3 inning affair to 4 innings that ended in a scoreless tie.  If you know about the Giants farm system, it comes as no surprise that pitching and defense ruled the day with Kyle Crick, Edwin Escobar, Clayton Blackburn, Kendry Flores, Ty Blach, Derek Law, Jose Casilla and Brett Bochy all pitching scoreless frames.  Blackburn looked particularly sharp based on reports from multiple sources.  Covechatter was also impressed by Flores and Blach, not to take anything away from the other participating pitchers.

Defense was also on display as C Trevor Brown made a nice catch over the dugout railing of a foul pop, Brown made a nice sliding catch in CF and Blanco made a terrific catch down in the corner that has become almost his signature play.  In the last frame, Juan Perez tracked down drive in the alley by Chris Dominguez and started a relay that cut down a runner at the plate with Andrew Susac laying down the swipe tag.  Hey!  I think that's more fun to watch than a home plate collision any day!

Gary Brown made the sliding catch and had a single, but fell asleep on the basepaths and got doubled of first on a  pop-up behind SS.

MLB takes, in my opinion, two major steps forward this season with a new rule banning most home plate collisions.  That is something that is way overdue and should not detract from the game in any way.  There may be some grumbling from time to time about runners scoring who should not have, but in the long run, it should even out for all teams.  It should also cut down on injuries and keep the best players on the field more, which is also good for the game.

Instant replay has also been expanded. We'll see how it works out, but in my opinion, instant replay offers improved accuracy in calling the plays, and the emphasis should be on getting the call right.

First exhibition game of a too long spring schedule today.  There is an off day tomorrow, so Yusmeiro Petit will get the start.  Most of the pitching prospects went yesterday, so expect to see a lot of the guys in camp on minor league deals taking the mound.  While preparation for the season is important, most of the Giants roster doesn't need more than about 2 weeks of games to get ready.  The emphasis for the rest of the spring needs to be in keeping guys strong and healthy.

On the injury front, Angel Pagan was back on the field yesterday after tweaking his back.  He likely won't play until the weekend at the earliest.  Marco Scutaro continues to take it slow.  Bruce Bochy does not want to burn out Buster Posey's legs early, so we won't see him before the weekend, either.

First Spring Training Game Wrap later today.  Play ball!!